Upholstery Cleaning

We can clean Leather, Dralon, Flocked, Tapestry, Flat weave, Velvet, Silk, and all points in between.

Today there is such a proliferation of fabrics it is hard to keep pace. Many modern fabrics look and feel wonderful, from luxurious chenille to modern tapestry. However, what was once straight forward is no more. Many modern fabrics contain viscose in varying percentages. This particular fibre is potentially a nightmare to work with. It is a man made fibre as such, in that it is manufactured from a natural product by treating it with chemicals and then weaving it into a fibre.Unfortunately, it is totally unstable when it comes to colour retention. So when an uninformed carpet cleaner appears with his machine to clean it, he ends up buying the suite from you because he’s made all the colours run. Modern fabrics are often combinations of Modacrylics, Dacron, Cotton, Polyester, Viscose, Linen and so on. Great to look at! Even better to sit in! But to the untrained carpet cleaner it is his nemesis. Untrained, he won’t even know what hit him; let alone how to identify it.

Even being properly trained, it is still difficult to keep pace and choose the right process for cleaning. Fortunately, we can offer the right process because we have invested in the appropriate machinery. Whether it needs a Wet Clean or a Dry Clean, we can handle it!

We can clean most fabrics, even Leather.

Leather, as all other fabrics, really should be cleaned at least once a year and in the case of Leather, it should be fed with a hide food/conditioner. Most finished leathers clean up really well. You will notice that the leather develops a grainy appearance; this is the build up of dirt. On lighter fabrics, including leather a process called crocking can occur. What this means is that darker fabrics rubbing across the upholstered fabric causes a slow but gradual transfer of dye. The worst culprit is blue jeans and jogging bottoms. Also cotton upholstery fabrics are generally a lighter weight fabric than that used in jeans and clothing. This means that the seat cushions suffer from wear as well as colour fading and dye transfer. All in all, this adds up to something that is difficult to rectify. Dye transfer by crocking cannot be totally removed, and we can’t change the effects of fading and wear. This should be born in mind when requesting the cleaning of upholstery.

Again though, regular cleaning as opposed to once every five years will help to redress the balance. Being pro-active rather than reactive is the key.

The main areas that usually get dirty on upholstery are the tops of the back cushions where our heads lay, and the ends of the armrests. This is due to hair and hand oil. This is not down to personal hygiene! Our hair and hands naturally oil up all the time and this is what gets transferred onto our sofas.

We do Maintenance Plans for Upholstery too!

Call us today for the best advice! Serving all of Kent including Canterbury, Sittingbourne, Maidstone, Dover, Folkestone, Margate & surrounding areas.